I’m not sure if this counts as a “patient gamer” because I played them to death years ago…but I’ve been playing both again recently and they’re just perfect little games with a ton of replayability. They’re not retro (FTL 2012, ITB 2018) but they’re old enough to regularly go on sale which is great!
Highly recommended if you like roguelite strategy games.
If you have any similar games to suggest, please leave a comment. I’m sure there’s tons of great strategy games I’ve missed over the years
If you have enjoyed FTL and are looking for more of the same, check out the multiverse mod package - adds a ton of content including overarcing story elements and unique ship and race unlocks.
Whoa, I didn’t even know there WERE mods for this game! I’ll take a look tonight, thanks for the tip!
I’m assuming mods are PC-only? I have it on Steam but my friend has been replacing it on Switch
Yeah, the mods are pc only. Multiverse feels like it quadruples the size of the game. Not every single element of it is fully fleshed out but there’s some really cool and unique stuff. They add new ships, crew, quests, sectors, weapons, and secrets
I adore FTL, can’t believe nobody else tried to do something similar all these years.
Well, there have been many games that have been influenced by the whole point to point event based rogue like map ideas, but most games don’t handle the combat the same way exactly, or have that same extremely punishing balance.
I’d love to see a full on FTL 2.
I don’t play the genre much, I didn’t even get that far in FTL itself, but Convoy is one I know of off the top of my head, if I think of any others I’ll come back and edit.
Well, not 1-to-1, although there were some clones.
But plenty games took on the idea behind it. The most direct would probably be Crying Suns, which features a type of character-to-station assignment, real time placement element and roguelike generated galaxy traversal. It changes each element, but the pieces are all there.
Other games take more indirect inspiration. The Bomber/Space/etc Crew games focus on the move-people-around-the-ship part of FTL, clearly. There were a few games where something chases you through generated levels so you cannot linger and explore it all.
I‘m saving Into The Breach - like many excellent 2D pixel games - for when I get my Steam Deck, gonna be later this year hopefully, looking forward to it
Great couch game for sure. If I had it on a mobile device I’d play it all the time
Weirdly the Android version is included with a Netflix subscription, and I think it’s entirely offline so you could install it, log in with someone else’s creds, then deny it internet privileges and use it indefinitely. Theoretically, that is, I play on Steam Deck so haven’t needed to try!
That is… Very weird. But hey, if it lets more people try one of my favorite games, I’m all for it
Into the Breach is so good and well-made, but depressingly, I’m just not smart enough to get addicted to it.
By that I mean, it is legitimately challenging. Battles take a bit longer because I need to really think through my moves, and require long-term strategic planning so I can’t just put it down and pick it up with the limited 15-30 minute blocks I can spare for fun. If I was better at making quick, correct decisions or had better long-term memory for a detailed battle plan, I’d enjoy it a lot more. As it is, I just keep looking at it for month after month and thinking, “when I have more time.”
Into The Breach took me a while to get into but now I also have it on my phone and it’s just so good and replayable. Would also love to have suggestions of similar games.
Turn based tactics games. Advanced Wars, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics. All slightly different but def in the same genre.
I feel like these are missing the very exact puzzle feeling that Into the Breach has, where all of the information of what every skill does is there, the range of everything, and you can even see exactly what the enemies are going to do next turn. That ideology in the design is missing from a lot of other games like that and makes it feel very different to play.